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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Yes, it's official. The Christmas manicures are starting here on Globe & Nail. There's less than a month now until Christmas, so it's completely acceptable, right? Right.

This week is Week 2 of the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge, and the theme is "Gifts, Presents, Stockings, anything related to you getting the awesome things you want." Since the list of things that I want for Christmas consists mainly of nail polish and my Hogwarts letter, I went a little outside the box with this one.

I essentially painted everyone on Christmas morning. Quite the feat, I know. I was inspired by the exploitable meme "X ALL the Y!" which originated from the blog Hyperbole and a Half. As far as I know, this was first done as nail art by The Nailasaurus, and has been floating around the internet ever since.

I started with two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and then added all the details with acrylic paint and a super tiny paintbrush. Two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth finish.

This was definitely a departure from my comfort zone, because I don't often do freehand nail art. Luckily, it turned out way better than I had imagined! *shameless self-pride*

Monday, November 26, 2012

Happy Monday! (That's the two cups of coffee speaking.) If you're not a caffeinated as I am, I hope I can brighten your morning with this gorgeous glittery post featuring fove polishes from the KBShimmer Winter Collection! Let's get right to it!

Hex Appeal was inspired by New Year's Eve in Times Square, and is a "navy jelly base with magenta, silver and blue hex glitters. Tiny micro bar glitters add a bit of pop."

Hex Appeal covered perfectly in two thicker coats. Application required a bit of work; I first applied it normally to spread the jelly base, and then dabbed around to evenly disperse the glitters. Two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth, glossy finish.

I'm sure you'll agree that the extra effort in application is SO worth the end result though. Isn't this a stunner? Definitely one of my favourites from the collection! *drool*

Next up, Candy Cane Crush is "is loaded with red and white hex glitters in many different sizes. This polish is scented with vanilla peppermint, for a classic sweet mint scent."

I layered one thick dabbed coat of Candy Cane Crush over two coats of China Glaze Holly-Day. This one is a hungry glitter, even with two coats of Seche Vite it was pretty bumpy.

I absolutely love the vanilla peppermint scent, I wish every polish smelled like this! It's not overpowering at all (unless you hold it up to your nose and inhale like my sister did when I told her it was scented) and I could still smell it the day after applying two coats of top coat! This is a very versatile polish: over green for Christmas, pink for Valentine's Day, blue for 4th of July, and red or white for Canada Day!

For We Three Blings "we started out with a micro iridescent gold and then added faux gold flakes. To finish this polish off, we then added several sizes of golo holo glitter."

I layered one easy coat of We Three Blings over three coats of Essie Macks, and topped with one coat of Seche Vite. You can see the gold holo on my blurred index and middle fingers.

This gold top coat is stunning, and applied like a dream! I had such a hard time deciding what to layer this over; on my high-tech plastic bag tester swatches it looked gorgeous over everything, especially all the rich jewel-toned shades! The combination of faux gold flakes and gold holo is so beautiful!

Cocoa Nut is "a chocolate brown polish loaded with berry colored glitters in several shades of pink. Micro gold adds a hint of shimmer and shine."

This polish goes on beautifully, I honestly forgot that I was applying a glitter polish! Two coats covers perfectly. The polish is left with a slightly grainy finish even after two coats of Seche Vite, but I had multiple people tell me "Whoa that's so cool, it's textured!" Why yes, it is cool, isn't it? ;)

Cocoa Nut flashes some other colours too, which you can see in the bottle shot above. It's such a flattering shade of brown. In fact, this post is a little late because I didn't want to take it off and wore it for two whole days! Another favourite in this collection!

All Decked Out is "a forest green Christmas Tree inspired base loaded with a mix of colored hexes in various sizes, gold holo hexes and a scattering of gold holo stars, as we know all Christmas trees need to be topped with a star!"

This one applied like Hex Appeal, a little dabbing was required to spread the glitters evenly. Two coats of Seche Vite smooths it out perfectly. The stars were hard to get, but I went fishing to satiate my desire to have a star on every nail... hehe! :)

I absolutely love All Decked Out, yet another favourite in the collection. The forest green jelly base is beautiful and gives the polish so much depth! I got so many compliments on this one (sometimes after shoving my hands at their faces... like an insane person..."Look! I have Christmas trees on my nails!!") Yea, this polish got me pretty excited. It's just so Christmas-y! :)

Now I'm in a super Christmas-y mood, I've been writing this post while listening to Christmas music for the first time this year! :) (Click here for my favourite Christmas song. You know you want to.)

No Castle Mani Monday post today because there's no new episode until the Christmas episode next Monday, but I hope this post made up for it! Overall, I'm extremely impressed with this whole collection. There's something for everybody in there, and you can bet I'll be reaching for them a lot this Christmas season (and some of them year-round!)

Do you have a favourite in this collection? Did you order any of them when they were released last Friday? Comments are early Christmas presents! :)

*edit: Voting for the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge is open until Wednesday. Click here and vote for your favourite (or mine, up to you) ;) *

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for review and my honest opinion.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Busy day today! Not quite sure why I'm trying to fit in a blog post, but here we go. I spent my afternoon in the mall, being a Sugar Plum Fairy. I danced my variation a couple times and my friends did other excerpts from The Nutcracker, and then we walked around, handed out candy canes to adoring children, and took pictures!

We're not normally allowed to wear nail polish for performances, but seeing as it was at a mall and my teacher was a wee bit more lenient, she said we could wear polish if it matched our costumes. Me being the sugar plum fairy, I was wearing an extremely sparkly light plum-coloured tutu so I did my nails to match! *Cue artsy tutu picture, thanks to my friend Danielle*

I didn't have a polish that perfectly matched, but it was pretty close in person! I started with a base of Essie Nice is Nice, and used this method from Lucy's Stash to add the glitter gradient in GlitzologyAs You Wish.

I'll have a post up sometime in the next week or two with a full review of As You Wish, along with four other awesome Glitzology polishes!

My friend Alisha was doing the Arabian dance at the mall at the same time I was, so I did her nails to match her costume too! Inspired by this manicure by Wacky Laki, I used OPI No Room For The Blues, BM-315 in Essie Good As Gold, and BornPretty Store gold glequins.

Now I've got to rush off to a fundraiser performance for Education Without Borders! Check back on Monday for some drool-inducing pictures of the KBShimmer Winter Collection! :)

Thursday, November 22, 2012

My third successful water marble was frustrating for all the wrong reasons. It turned out very pretty and the marbling was problem-free. Great, right? Sure, until I go to take pictures and you can't see a thing because it's too subtle and my fingers are orange! **EDIT: Thanks to Jen, I'm working on figuring out Photoshop Elements to colour-correct my photos. No more orange fingers!**

This nail art was so pretty in real life and I was determined to get somewhat-decent pictures, so I painted over the lines with more polish to make it stand out more. It's marginally better.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and marbled with Sinful Colors Cinderella and OPI Don't Tough My Tutu. I then filled in the white with Essie Pure Pearlfection, and in an attempt to make the design more visible I went back over the blue with Cinderella.

This nail art was inspired by snowflakes, and I think I captured it pretty well. It was soft, delicate and shimmery, like a fresh snowfall! :)

That's the original picture right there, can't see a thing, right? Anyways, I did this nail art for a contest, and I'd really appreciate it if you could go vote for my manicure here! I'm working on swatches of some stunning polishes, and I'm so excited to show you soon!

Monday, November 19, 2012

I've got something pretty exciting today, it's the entire I<3NY Collection from Mrs.P's Nail Potions! There are 5 polishes in this collection, each represents one of the main characters in Sex and the City. I've used Mrs.P's descriptions of the inspiration behind each different polish, and all photos are two coats without topcoat. Let's get right to it!

Can't Colour Enough is "inspired by Samantha Jones and her colourful and out there personality and fashion. It's a neon pink jelly with a little bit of extra fine holographic glitter for that shimmer and sparkle to represent the life in the fast lane aspect of Samantha and then is loaded with many different glitters of different shapes and sizes kind of like a party confetti to represent all the high profile PR events and parties that Samantha attended and organized/hosted."

Application on this one was a little tricky. I dabbed on the first coat to get the glitter spread evenly, a second coat evened it out nicely and was much easier to apply. At first glance I thought it would be a lot like DL/Claire's Candy Shop, but looking at it now, it looks like the pink sister of P&P Pool Party. This one isn't personally my taste at all, but I think that the extra fine holo glitter adds a nice touch to an exciting polish!

All Lawyered Up is "inspired by Miranda Hobbs. She has the simplest of style of all the girls and is the iconic redhead of the show. Most times you see her in her straight-laced suits as she is a lawyer so I thought I would keep this Potion very simple and straightforward and bring in the red/orange to represent her hair. It's a red jelly base with medium hex glitters in red and orange."

This polish applied fairly easily, it had a good consistency and the glitter spread itself pretty well with just a few extra strokes of the brush. The vibrant orangey-red jelly base just screams "redhead" to me, it's so perfect! I used two coats here for complete coverage, though I think it would look even better with a third to add more depth to the jelly! (Please ignore the ding on my ring finger, silly me!)

Searching for Mr. Right is "inspired by Charlotte York and her forever search for the perfect husband. Charlotte was always a hopeless romantic and believer in true love. It's a white jelly with pink heart glitters and fine white iridescent and holo pink glitter. It's very pretty and romantic and girly, just like Charlotte."

I like the finished look of this polish, but I think that my bottle was missing the iridescent glitter. My photos look quite different from Bree's own photos in her Etsy shop. Application was troublesome with this one; the white base is a little patchy and the hearts needed to be placed on. I think the base is maybe a little too opaque, I had hoped that the hearts would show through more. I used two coats; probably would have been better with three thinner coats because it was getting a little thick. Formula aside, I think this is a really cute and girly polish, and would be perfect for Valentine's Day!

The Big Apple is "inspired by Carrie's two true loves, Mr. Big and New York City. It's a black jelly which represents the nice tailored black suits Mr. Big usually wears with fine silver sparkles to represent the spark between Carrie and Mr. Big and all the lights of NYC. There is also white diamond glitter which I thought picked up on the crisp white shirts Mr. Big always wore under his suits and red hex glitters to represent the love that Carrie feels for both Mr. Big and NYC. Red is also the colour of apples and NYC is the big apple after all!"

Unfortunately, my anticipated favourite of the collection was a bit of a letdown, and it's probably my fault. I used two coats by itself because most the other swatches I've seen are over a black creme, and now I see why. It's perfectly opaque by itself in two coats, but it's quite thick and the glitters don't sit well at all on top of each other. I'll swatch this one again soon over a black creme, because I'm sure it will be tons better and I really want to love this one!

**EDIT: I've reswatched The Big Apple; one coat over black with one coat of Seche Vite.**

The Naked Dress is "inspired by Carrie Bradshaw and her famous "naked dress" from Season 1 on her first date with Mr. Big. It's a nude jelly with gold holo glitter in fine and medium hex. The gold glitter represents the "Carrie" necklace that she always wore and treasured throughout the entire series."

I've saved my favourite for last! Nude jelly with gold holo glitter? Yes, please! This nude is super flattering, and the glitter is so perfectly dispersed in the polish for a nice even coating. Application on this one was the easiest of them all, not a hitch! I imagine this would be a great work-appropriate polish, nude with just that little bit of sparkle. My mom has had her eye on this polish ever since it came in the mail, you can bet the mini bottle of this will go pretty quickly!

This collection is currently available at Mrs.P's Nail Potions Etsy shop. She is also doing a giveaway this month where the lucky winner will receive (free of charge, all they have to pay is postage) a full-sized set of the entire collection! For every bottle of Mrs.P's Nail Potions that is purchased during the month of November, you will get one entry into the giveaway! You can keep up to date with Mrs.P's Nail Potions on Facebook and Twitter. I love The Naked Dress, but All Lawyered Up is a close second! Which polish is your favourite from this collection? Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Today is my 17th birthday! Because I've been really busy this week preparing for a performance tomorrow, I decided that instead of doing something fancy, I'd wear one of my favourite polishes.

I chose my one and only Deborah Lippmann polish, Ray of Light, which I've actually only worn once before because I'm trying to conserve it due to the price tag. Come on though, navy blue, jelly, and colour-shifting flakies? TOTALLY worth it.

I wore two coats of Ray of Light, and it looks a little patchy in the photos but looked perfect in person. Added the copper-coloured studs to match the flakies in the polish, and topped with one coat of Seche Vite which the polish gobbled up.

This one one of my favourite polishes that I own, it's such a perfect combination of my favourite things! I really want a polish similar to this but a deep red-toned purple jelly base with red/gold colour-shifting flakies... Any indie makers out there raising your hands?

Seeing as I've got an important performance tomorrow, I don't have any special plans for my birthday. School this morning, then ballet class this afternoon and a run-through of the show this evening. My mom is making a delicious dinner though, so I'm looking forward to that tonight! :)

Monday, November 12, 2012

So I'm a little late on today's Castle Mani Monday post (seeing as I've just finished watching tonight's episode) but I've got a quick post!

I'd like to put it out there that I'm going to be keeping these manis pretty abstract in the interpretation so that they can be enjoyed by everyone. Since last week's post was inspired by Beckett's look, today's mani was loosely based off of one of Castle's looks in tonight's episode.

Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle

I started with a base of Zoya Dove, placed stiping tape in a line down the center, and painted over with Orly Decoded before removing the tape and adding a top coat (which apparently didn't do much good since it got all scratched up right afterwards).

I haven't been doing my nails as often as I'd like the past couple of weeks because I'm swamped with rehearsals for a big performance that's this weekend (that plus the fact that I'm almost done reading The Hunger Games series and I only started 3 days ago.) My birthday is this coming Friday (the 16th), and I'm having trouble deciding what I want to wear on my nails! I'm thinking of re-creating one of my favourite previous manis in different colours, so let me know if you have any suggestions! :)

Thursday, November 08, 2012

I'm sitting here trying to come up with some clever name for this like my Grey-dient. Grey-bré? Om-grey? Yea, not really working for me.

This was my first time trying ombré nails, and I really like it! I've been sick for two days now (though I still have to go to dance - can't miss any rehearsals with the show coming up next Saturday!) and even though it was late last night, I had already been wearing my last manicure for three days and it was getting pretty chipped. I wanted something fast and easy that was still more interesting than a plain mani, so I finally decided to try this.

I like the look of the colours transitioning from one to the next across the fingers! I was a little nervous about having to mix a colour for the middle finger, but I think it came out just right. I actually ended up liking the colour so much that I might make myself a mini bottle of it!

I'm working on collecting some stuff for a giveaway soon, because lots of exciting events have all seemed to converge! I just passed 300 blog followers, I'm getting close to 5000 Instagram followers (@emmaclarem), my next post will be number 100, and it's my 17th birthday next Friday, November 16th! :)